World Olive Oil Competition 2026 Live Updates

Feb. 19 20:16 UTC

Ylenia Granitto report­ing from Rome

With the NYIOOC results under­way, sev­eral olive oil tourism expe­ri­ences are already dis­played in the Official Guide, with more to be added in the com­ing weeks as new win­ners are announced.

Among them are Cooperativa Olivarera De Lucena in Córdoba (Spain), Mandranova in Palma di Montechiaro (Italy), Galjin Dvor in Primošten (Croatia), and Lučka Olive in Tuzi (Montenegro).

Clicking the Tourism sec­tion in the nav­i­ga­tion menu opens a map show­ing where award-win­ning pro­duc­ers offer­ing these expe­ri­ences are located. Below the map, pro­duc­ers appear in boxes out­lin­ing what’s avail­able, includ­ing tast­ings, lodg­ing, estate or har­vest tours, courses or work­shops, and the option to use the estate as an events venue.

Users can book expe­ri­ences by select­ing a point on the map or one of the list­ings, each fea­tur­ing a ​“Book Now” but­ton along­side ​“Directions” to reach the loca­tion.

Feb 18 19:08 UTC

OOT Staff report­ing from New York

Here are some reac­tions found on the Official Guide from award-win­ning pro­duc­ers so far as results con­tinue to be released:

“Winning a Gold Award) cel­e­brates the qual­ity of our Picual olives and our strong con­nec­tion to the land and fam­ily tra­di­tions.” — Miguel Moreno, La Casilla

“Thrilled to be rec­og­nized for pro­duc­ing excel­lent organic extra vir­gin olive oil. All thanks to our team who pro­duced such healthy olives.” — Louisa Sherman, Domaine de Gerbaud.

“The ini­tial heat waves forced us to bring for­ward the har­vest, accept­ing a reduc­tion in oil yield in order to pri­or­i­tize qual­ity. The result is a har­mo­nious and com­plex EVOO, rec­og­nized with an inter­na­tional gold medal that endorses the com­mit­ment of our farm­ers.” — Antonio Pozo, Cooperativa Olivarera de Lucena

“To us, this isn’t just a tro­phy. It is a trib­ute to four gen­er­a­tions of my fam­ily who have worked the land in Rakalj, Istria, Croatia. To see our small fam­ily hold­ing rec­og­nized on a global stage amongst 10,000 entries is a tes­ta­ment to the fact that when tra­di­tion meets qual­ity, the results are world-class.” — Sergio Frančula, OPG Provaža

“What a year — tough, demand­ing, and absolutely worth it. Winning Gold is the per­fect recog­ni­tion of the work, the pas­sion, and the com­mit­ment behind every bot­tle.” — Rita Guastella, D’Uliva di RP

“This sea­son was chal­leng­ing again, with high tem­per­a­tures and lack of rain. We are very happy that we have man­aged to win medal again and that gives us great boost of moti­va­tion to keep try­ing and do even bet­ter job.” — Jasmin Marinković, OPG Jasmin Marinković

“Through a year of unex­pected chal­lenges, we cared for every stage of cul­ti­va­tion in our groves with ded­i­ca­tion and hard work, and we thank God for the abun­dant, high-qual­ity har­vest He blessed us with.” — Nikos Nikolopoulos, Armakadi PC

Feb. 17 16:54 UTC

Ylenia Granitto report­ing from Rome

As the third week of results unfolds, sev­eral organic-cer­ti­fied olive oils have been rec­og­nized in the Official Guide. Among them are Rizman Organic by Rizman from Croatia, L’Olio Bio by Pometti Carlotta (Italy), Lefkada Micro Farm Organic by Lefkada Micro Farm (Greece), Showa Farm Organic Arbequina by Showa Farm (United States), and Domaine de Gerbaud BIO AOP Provence by Domaine de Gerbaud (France).

Across its 14 edi­tions, the NYIOOC has shown a steady rise in organic entries, with expected fluc­tu­a­tions along the way. A record num­ber of organic extra vir­gin olive oils were sub­mit­ted in 2024, with 35 per­cent of entries cer­ti­fied organic, com­pared with 22 per­cent in 2014.

The tra­jec­tory out­lined in the World Competition’s data reflects broader global mar­ket dynam­ics: accord­ing to the lat­est fig­ures, the organic olive oil mar­ket is grow­ing glob­ally and is expected to reach $2.2 bil­lion by 2031, ris­ing by nearly nine per­cent annu­ally. The increase is being dri­ven by grow­ing con­sumer inter­est in health­ier, sus­tain­ably pro­duced food and pol­icy sup­port for organic agri­cul­ture.

Feb. 16, 2026 18:12 UTC

Nedjeljko Jusup report­ing from Zadar

Croatian pro­duc­ers are track­ing early NYIOOC World results as awards begin to roll in along the Adriatic.

Nino Brajković, a sur­geon at Šibenik General Hospital, earned a Silver Award on his first entry. ​“For a first time, sil­ver is a great suc­cess,” he said.

Brajković and his wife, Katarina, tend 130 trees and pro­duced the award-win­ning Doktorova Likarija blend, made mainly from Oblica (Sladunica) and Krvavica.

He said the name reflects his view of high-qual­ity extra vir­gin olive oil as an ​“elixir,” and added he hopes to cre­ate a botan­i­cal gar­den to pre­serve local cul­ti­vars such as Piculja, Paićuša, Mrkulja and Plavica. ​“If we can’t com­pete on vol­ume, we can com­pete on qual­ity,” he said.

Brajković is also part of the Oleum Primum Dalmaticom club, which pro­motes oils made from indige­nous vari­eties.

In the lat­est tally, Croatia led with 23 awards (19 Gold and four Silver), fol­lowed by Italy with 22 (21 Gold and one Silver). The United States had 13 (seven Gold, six Silver), Spain 10 (seven Gold, three Silver) and Greece six (three Gold, three Silver).

Portugal, Turkey, Lebanon, France and Montenegro also appeared in early results, with about 12 per­cent of sub­mit­ted sam­ples eval­u­ated so far.

Feb. 16, 2026 16:19 UTC

OOT Staff report­ing from New York

Early results from the 2026 NYIOOC sug­gest that pro­duc­ers from Italy, Croatia, the United States and at least seven other coun­tries opted into the competition’s ear­lier reg­is­tra­tion option, allow­ing them to receive results first and gain addi­tional time to pub­li­cize their awards.

Results began one month ear­lier than last year, and two weeks into the release period, the Official Guide’s real-time results indi­cate that an esti­mated 12 per­cent of analy­ses have been com­pleted so far. Registration remains open on a rolling basis as addi­tional sam­ples con­tinue to be eval­u­ated.

Feb. 12 12:03 UTC

Paolo DeAndreis report­ing from Rome

As the win­ners are announced at the 2026 World Olive Oil Competition, each award appears in real time on the Official Guide’s inter­ac­tive world map. Every day, new shin­ing Gold and Silver awards light up the globe.

The map reveals the global reach of excep­tional olive oil pro­duc­tion, high­light­ing the work of hun­dreds of pro­duc­ers who con­tin­u­ally refine their agri­cul­tural prac­tices and invest in inno­va­tion, rais­ing the qual­ity and rep­u­ta­tion of their prod­ucts year after year.

NYIOOC Live Map

Feb. 10, 13:58 UTC

Nedjeljko Jusup report­ing from Zadar

Croatian pro­duc­ers have surged to an early lead at the NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition, col­lect­ing 17 awards in the first round of 2026 results, includ­ing 15 Gold Awards and two Silvers.

“We’re first,” said Ante Vulin, an olive grower from Pakoštane, as Croatia topped the early leader­board among north­ern hemi­sphere coun­tries. Italy fol­lowed with 14 awards (13 Golds and one Silver), while the United States ranked third with 12 awards (six Golds and six Silvers). Spain placed fourth with six awards, fol­lowed by Greece, Lebanon, Portugal, France, Turkey and Tunisia.

Producers from Pakoštane accounted for a large share of Croatia’s early suc­cess. Vulin earned another Gold for his extra vir­gin olive oil brand Antino, mark­ing his fifth con­sec­u­tive year win­ning Gold in New York. He and his fam­ily cul­ti­vate about 1,100 olive trees, with roughly 550 in full pro­duc­tion.

A notable theme in the early results has been the con­tin­ued loy­alty of many Pakoštane grow­ers to tra­di­tional cul­ti­vars, par­tic­u­larly Oblica, an indige­nous Dalmatian vari­ety.

Alongside Vulin, Gold Awards for Oblica oils went to Tomislav Čudina (OPG Celini) and Sebastijan Adžić (Leut Group). Adžić, a Croatian war vet­eran who lost a leg, said he has con­tin­ued to work per­sis­tently as both a restau­ra­teur and olive grower. ​“It’s started well — we just need to keep it going,” he said.

Ante Lokin also earned Gold for Ćaće Moga, a mono­va­ri­etal Oblica extra vir­gin olive oil.

Vinko Lalin main­tained a role for Oblica in his Dalma Premium blend, com­bin­ing it with the local Levantinka vari­ety and the intro­duced Picholine and Pendolino. ​“Even though we grafted part of the grove over to other vari­eties, from a total of 450 trees we pro­duced 2,000 liters of oil,” he said, adding that he was sat­is­fied with this year’s yield.

Slavo Stojanov of OPG Didini dvori – Agroturizam Plavica won a Silver Award with oils made from Oblica and Plavica. ​“This time we won Silver, but sil­ver shines too,” he said.

Several pro­duc­ers empha­sized pride in their prod­ucts and the con­nec­tion between place and qual­ity in the olive-grow­ing com­mu­nity, located on Croatia’s Adriatic coast near Lake Vrana, the country’s largest lake.

Beyond Dalmatia, Croatia’s early haul also included awards for pro­duc­ers in Istria. Avistria, which cul­ti­vates about 4,800 olive trees near Sveti Lovreč, earned recog­ni­tion again this year. The com­pany is owned by Beatrix and Rudolf Nemetsche, an Austrian cou­ple.

OPG Rajne i Sinovi from Stankovci received a Gold Award for Dalmatinski Robustnjak, described as an organic extra vir­gin olive oil pro­duced under strict eco­log­i­cal stan­dards.

Istrian pro­duc­ers have also begun appear­ing on the win­ners’ list. ​“Istria won’t lag behind Dalmatia,” said Saša Petković, the pro­ducer behind the Bilini brand.

With just 8 per­cent of the 2026 com­pe­ti­tion results released so far, accord­ing to the Olive Oil Times World Ranking, Croatian pro­duc­ers said they hope to remain near the top of the stand­ings. Last year, Croatia fin­ished sec­ond over­all with 125 awards, becom­ing run­ner-up at the world’s largest olive oil qual­ity com­pe­ti­tion.

Feb. 6, 2026 17:00 UTC

Ylenia Granitto report­ing from Rome

As the first week of results draws to a close, sev­eral blends made their entry in the Official Guide.

Three Croatian blends – Olea Magica by OPG Olea Magica, Dalma Premium by OPG Lalin, and Leut by Leut Groupa – earned Gold Awards, along with two from Italy – Olio Fonte della Pace by Fontanaro Estate and Vipiano by Giancarlo Giannini, and Spain’s Oro Del Desierto Organic Coupage by Rafael Alonso Aguilera.

The per­cent­age of blends awarded over four­teen edi­tions of the NYIOOC amounts to 44 per­cent of all win­ning oils.

A blend is obtained by com­bin­ing two or more olive vari­eties in vary­ing pro­por­tions. It may result from a field blend­ing or from mix­ing oil in the mill after each vari­ety has been milled sep­a­rately. Some blends are crafted accord­ing to the nat­ural vari­etal com­po­si­tion of grove, while oth­ers are care­fully stud­ied and cus­tomized to obtain a spe­cific sen­sory pro­file.

Feb. 4, 2026 16:53 UTC

Ylenia Granitto report­ing from Rome

In the first few days of results, the 2026 NYIOOC has already awarded six Coratina mono­va­ri­etals. Among them are Dedolio Coratina by Dedolio and Parco delle Lamie by Fratelli Fiore, both earn­ing their sec­ond Gold Award.

Each year, the con­sis­tent pres­ence of this vari­ety in the Official Guide reflects its broad dif­fu­sion. Named for the Apulian town of Corato, Coratina is cul­ti­vated not only in its area of ori­gin but also across many regions world­wide, thanks to its adapt­abil­ity to dif­fer­ent grow­ing con­di­tions. From an agro­nomic per­spec­tive, the tree is known for good pro­duc­tiv­ity, while the fruit typ­i­cally shows late and stag­gered ripen­ing.

With its high polyphe­nol con­tent, Coratina extra vir­gin olive oil is prized for a dis­tinc­tive sen­sory pro­file, often marked by medium to intense fruiti­ness and notes of almond and freshly cut grass.

Feb. 3, 2026 23:12 UTC

OOT Staff report­ing from New York

As the first 2026 NYIOOC results appear, they do so in a year when many pro­duc­ers say qual­ity held firm even as pro­duc­tion remained uneven.

In the annual Olive Oil Times Harvest Survey, respon­dents described a 2025 cam­paign shaped by extremes: excel­lent fruit health and stand­out oils in many groves, but incon­sis­tent yields under the com­bined pres­sure of heat, volatile weather, higher costs and uncer­tain mar­kets.

Producers rated the sea­son 67 out of 100 in the poll, a mid­dling score that reflected a split real­ity — some regions rebounded from an ​“off” year, while oth­ers slipped into one, under­scor­ing how local cli­mate pat­terns and alter­nate-bear­ing cycles con­tinue to dic­tate out­comes.

Feb. 2, 2026 21:55 UTC

OOT Staff report­ing from New York

Oro Del Desierto Organic Coupage was the most awarded extra vir­gin olive oil brand going into the 14^th edi­tion of the NYIOOC, and pro­ducer Rafael Alonso Aguilera has assured it stays that way, with another Gold Award revealed on the very first day of results.

The organic blend from Tabernas, Spain leads more than 1,700 brands from 38 coun­tries in the Olive Oil Times World Ranking — a tes­ta­ment to the fam­ily com­pa­ny’s out­stand­ing con­sis­tency. There will be more cov­er­age of their achieve­ment in the days ahead.

Feb. 2, 2026 21:43 UTC

OOT Staff report­ing from New York

After the first day of results, 11 brands from Italy, Greece, Spain, Lebanon and Montenegro are listed in the Official Guide and Olive Oil Times World Ranking. The NYIOOC ana­lyzes entries in the order they are received through­out the judg­ing period, giv­ing these first win­ners a head start in the mar­ket­place. NYIOOC orga­niz­ers noted that the first results were released a month ear­lier than last year’s March 3^rd start.

Feb 2, 2026 00:35 UTC

OOT Staff report­ing from New York

Frantoio Muraglia, a fifth-gen­er­a­tion pro­ducer from Andria in south­ern Italy, earned Gold Awards for its Essenza Fruttato Intenso, Gran Cru Tenuta Macchia di Rose and Denocciolato olive oils. The Muraglia fam­ily has cul­ti­vated olives in Puglia for more than 160 years, pair­ing tra­di­tion with inno­va­tion aimed at improv­ing qual­ity and sus­tain­abil­ity. Managing direc­tor Savino Muraglia said the company’s agro­nomic prac­tices focus on bio­di­ver­sity and car­bon reduc­tion, not­ing that sus­tain­abil­ity is ​“a life choice” rooted in what farm­ers do in the coun­try­side rather than what appears on a label.

This is a devel­op­ing story. Check back for updates. (Updated Feb. 19, 2026 20:24)

More updates

Continuous cov­er­age of the 2026 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition

• 2026 World Olive Oil Competition cov­er­age on OOT
• NYIOOC 2026 Live Updates
• Official Guide to the World’s Best Olive Oils
• World Olive Oil Rankings
• NYIOOC Help Center and Press Room
• NIOOC Marketplace